Civilian control of the military

A basic foundation of our civilization
Is civilian control of the military organization.
To attempt to change this for short term political advantage,
Seems a self-serving policy with no historical perspective.

Seven retired generals (out of 7,000) want to drive the change in military leadership

Poor education

When our institutions of education are subverted
for a radical minority's benefit,
the principles of intellectual freedom are distorted
we are all poorer because of it.

There are many examples available.

Proposed web based pork controls

In this age of information dissemination
There are proposals from some in congress
For some pork controls for the nation
To leverage the blog swarm before a bill can pass.

The relevant passage:

Fourth, this very simple idea might be the most effective: Let the American people read bills before Congress votes on them. Post the entire text of the bills, including every pork project and special-interest provision, on the Internet for all to see, for at least 72 hours before the vote.

The lessons of history

In my Sunday morning surfing,
for opinion and events less reported,
I came across this posting
Its cogent argument was easily read.

The Sands of Time

This passage struck a bell:

It is the wage of prosperous, happy societies to be envied, hated, and forced to withstand threats that they cannot reciprocate back onto the enemy. The US has overcome foes as formidable as the Axis Powers and the Soviet Union, yet we appear to be at a stalemate against a pre-modern, unprofessional band of deviants that does not even have the resources of a small nation and has not invented a single technology. The new war is thus ultimately not with the terrorists, but with ourselves - our complacency, short attention spans, and propensity for fashionable ignorance over the lessons of history. Whether we awaken to the advantages we do have over our enemies before or after the terrorists get a bit too lucky and kill a million of us in a day remains to be seen.

I am not so sure that the argument that it is primarily democracy that reduces the aggressiveness of a country, is spot on. Some evidence exists that economic freedom (which engenders prosperity) may be the main driver with democracy being linked as the most efficient faciltator of economic freedom.